Children’s play time is serious business for ErgAdoozy

Susan Clause and Stephen Briggs know after two decades teaching and selling educational toys that the right play environment makes the best classroom for children. What they didn't know was how strong parent demand for that environment.

Susan Clause and Stephen Briggs know after two decades teaching and selling educational toys that the right play environment makes the best classroom for children.

What they didn't know was how strong parent demand is for businesses that provide these learning environments.

“Clearly there was a pent-up need in Springfield,” said Clause, who carved space from the long-standing ErgAdoo educational toy and teacher supply store at 1320 S. State St. last fall to open ErgAdoozy. The husband-and-wife team is in the process of liquidating their retail store to make expansion space for the hands-on learning center.

“It took off much faster than we expected.”

ErgAdoozy is one of several new local offerings aimed at moving children's bodies while engaging their brains.

The Little Gym — which opened earlier this month at 3043 Hedley Drive — puts a twist on traditional gymnastics lessons to teach students everything from geography to good manners while mastering summersaults and cartwheels.

And organizers of the Kidzeum of Health and Science are nearing the end of a $6.5 million fundraising campaign to open at 25,000-square-foot facility at 412 Adams St.

Kidzeum board president Rachael Thomson said the community has a growing awareness of children's need for “gross-motor fun.

“We need places that show kids how to lead healthy lives but also serve as a family entertainment outlet,” Thomson said. “There's an all-out need. Kids today are being raised by television and electronics, the obesity issue.

“Springfield is coming around. The awareness is increasing.”

Thomson also served as board president for the former Springfield Children's Museum that operated at 619 E. Washington St. from 1996 to 2001. She attributes its short run to space restrictions — less than a third of the exhibit square footage that will be available with the Kidzeum.

For parents, kids

Traci Van Prooyen, assistant professor of teacher education at the University of Illinois Springfield, said play is important for children's physical and mental health. But culture and environment play a large role in how the two work together, she said.

Kids had the run of the neighborhood and formed their own pickup games in the 1950s when neighbors knew everyone on the block by name and most homes were occupied around-the-clock by stay-at-home mothers. The prevalence of structured after-school programming and sports leagues rose with the arrival of two-income families.

“We don't have a whole lot of unsupervised play time where kids can use their imagination, make up their own games through make-believe,” Van Prooyen said.

“And with two working parents, making a mess in the home, yard isn't seen as acceptable.”

Darrin Daugherty of Raymond said mess containment played a role in deciding to hold his son Donny's seventh birthday party Feb. 16 at ErgAdoozy.

Page 2 of 2 - “We wanted something fun, and you don't do a swim party or anything outside in February. This made it easy,” he said. “The kids ran for two hours in a safe play environment, and we walked out leaving the mess behind.”

Daugherty isn't alone.

ErgAdoozy's birthday rooms are booked a month in advance, and that's with the capacity to host 30 parties each weekend.

Clause said the expansion will add three more birthday rooms, as well as a play area geared for the 8- to 12-year-old crowd and a small gift/toy store.

She said outsourcing play space also frees parents up to play.

“Here parents are engaging with their kids in a space where they don't have to do laundry or look at the mess on the floor,” Clause said. “We're just really pleased at how parents are interacting with their kids, not just sitting around the walls looking at their phones.”

“At McDonald's (play land), the toddler section is a shorter slide. Here it's set up like a preschool,” she said. “It's just a really cool, hands-on learning place.”

Springfield transplant Patti Naylor said she's been intrigued by The Little Gym since her son first visited one of the franchise locations years ago.

She and business partner Sarah Hennemann, both physical therapists, opened the local outlet Feb. 4.

Already, they have 80 students registered for weekly classes — a record number for a new branch in the nationwide franchise, they said — and are booked for weekend birthday parties several weeks in advance.

“We want the kids to be learning,” Naylor said, “but the kids just know it's a lot of fun and different than anything else.”